Online bingo is huge in the UK, with tens of thousands of us logging on to play every single day. However, there are also hundreds of sites offering games in thousands of different rooms. In order to help keep the games active, many bingo websites join a nework to share players. With the most popular (and best!) network being Playtech’s Virtue Fusion.
This is a fan site solely focussed on the Virtue Fusion network. On it you’ll find a complete list of every site on the network as well as details of the the games, promotions and jackpots that are available. To kick things off, let’s start with a list of the best bingo sites that use Virtue Fusion software.
Gala Bingo are one of the biggest and best known high street bingo operators, with halls throughout the UK, so their online bingo site had pretty big shoes to fill. Thankfully they didn't dissapoint, and the team at Gala have created one of the best bingo sites on the network.
The site includes a number of exclusive games which you won't find on any other Virtue Fusion site, including Coconut Island - a unique 50-ball bingo game that runs daily from 10am to midnight. On top of this you'll also find some massive promotions with hundreds of thousands in prizes given away every week.
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Full List of Virtue Fusion Bingo Sites
The websites listed above represent our favourites from the network, and we’d recommend that you stick to them as you’ll get a much better gaming experience. However, if you’re one of those people who like to sign up with every bingo site under the sun, or you want to check if a particular site runs on VF then this next part is for you.
Below you’ll find an A to Z list of every site* on the Playtech bingo network:
- Ace of Bingo
- Aztec Bingo
- Beaky Bingo
- Bet365 Bingo
- Betfair Bingo
- Betfred Bingo
- BGO Bingo
- Bingo Enchanted
- Bingo With Kerry
- BOGOF Bingo
- Boyle Bingo
- Bucky Bingo
- Castle Bingo
- Coral Bingo
- Daily Record Bingo
- Deal or No Deal Bingo
- Fabulous Bingo
- Golden Hat Bingo
- Ladbrokes Bingo
- Love Your Bingo
- Mecca Bingo
- Mirror Bingo
- One2Go Bingo
- Paddy Power Bingo
- Scarlet Bingo
- Simply Bingo
- Sky Bingo
- Sun Bingo
- Take a Break Bingo
- Titan Bet Bingo
- Vernons Bingo
- Vernons Bingo
- William Hill Bingo
- Winner Bingo
* We update this list regularly and check it for accuracy, however if you know of a site which is missing from the list or notice one has shut down, please let us know.
Claiming Bonuses
One of the best things about online bingo sites is that you’re going to be able to choose from a wide range of bonuses. These are now super-common within the industry and allow you a little top up to your bankroll when you get started.
There’s a wide range of bonuses that are on offer though and things that you need to know before signing up. Here’s some frequently asked questions that you can browse through prior to signing up.
What are Bingo Bonuses?
A bonus is basically some sort of reward that you get for signing up to an online bingo room. It’s one of the ways that bingo rooms market to new customers and offer them an incentive to sign up with them over say, one of their rivals.
The number and range of bonuses in the industry are extensive now and each of them will likely vary in some way. It’s also worth noting that not all bonuses are the same, which is one of the reasons we’ve set up this guide to highlight how they differ and how one might suit more than another.
How Do You Claim the Bonus?
You’re first going to need to sign up with the online bingo site. This will require you to enter details such as name, address and contact details. Most bonuses will work on the basis that you need to make an initial deposit and then this will trigger the bonus. But some don’t need a deposit of any kind, just an active account. We talk more about the different offers next.
Again, it’s worth pointing out that rarely are two bonuses with different bingo sites the same, meaning you need to check the terms and conditions for each before signing up.
What Kind of Bonuses are There?
There are a wide range of bonuses that are on offer and some are much more lucrative than others. Also, it’s worth noting that some bonuses will suit certain players more than others, often based on the amount that you are going to play and the stakes that you are going to play for.
No Deposit Bonus
The no deposit bonus is where the bingo room will give you a set amount of money to go and try some of their games after you’ve registered an account. The amount will vary, but usually between £5 and £15, which is enough to take on a number of bingo games on the site.
With these offers you won’t be able to withdraw any winnings immediately and you will have to work through wager requirement’s that area attached to these offers. We talk in depth about wager requirement’s a little later in this article.
These offers are great for people who are either new to online bingo or players who are looking for a new bingo room and they want to test it out before depositing. The amounts are generally small, but still offer good value.
Welcome Bonuses (First Deposit)
The next one on the list is the welcome bonus. This is where you the bingo room with match your opening deposit with some bonus money.
For example, the site may state that they will match your opening deposit 100% up to £50. So, if you deposit £50 then you will get £50 in bonus money that is attached to your account.
Again, you won’t be able to just withdraw this money straight away and will be subjective to wagering requirements.
The rate that you can expect to get can vary, but it’s not uncommon to see bonuses become in the region of 100-300%. You will generally find that as the match percentage increases, the overall amount will decrease.
Reload Bonus
Lots of bingo rooms offer what’s called a reload bonus. This is works similarly to your first deposit welcome bonus above, except it matches the second deposit that you make on site. In fact, some reload bonuses can match, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and even 5th deposits as well, giving you a huge range of bonus money that you can claim.
You will find that the reload bonus is generally a bit smaller than the welcome bonus. So, if you got a 100% match on your welcome bonus, the reload bonus might be 50% match.
What are Wagering Requirement’s?
Understanding that each bonus you get will come with wagering requirements is one of most important factors when picking a bingo bonus. Simply put, these are terms that the bingo room set out to ensure that you can’t just withdraw any bonus money that you get and that you actually play their games.
The wagering requirement is the amount of money that you need to wager to make your bonus funds withdrawable. This is based on a turnover amount of either the bonus amount or the bonus and the deposit amount. You will be then required to run through this amount before being able to get your bonus money as real cash.
For example, a typical bonus might ask you to wager through your bonus 20x times before you can withdraw it. If we say that you get a £100 bonus, then 20 x £100 = £2,000. So, for these terms you need to place £2,000 worth of wagers to get your £100 bonus as withdrawable cash.
Do Slots and Bingo Bonuses Carry the Same Wagering Requirement’s?
You will see that most online bingo rooms include a healthy range of slots and many bonuses allow you to play these slots as well. But, you’re going to find that the wager requirements for slots based bonuses and bingo based bonuses will differ greatly.
The main difference comes in the size of the turnover amount for the offer. Slots is going to be much higher than bingo. For example, a slots bonus might be 30x your bonus amount whereas bingo might be only 10x the amount.
Can I Claim Multiple Offers?
No. The bingo rooms have strict policies in place stating that you are able to claim only one offer per player. These restriction’s might be extended to one offer per house or even building, so it could be that if someone else in your house has already claimed the offer, it might be eligible for you to claim this offer.
The exception to this is of course reload bonuses and with these you can claim as many reload bonuses as they offer you. It’s worth noting that often the bingo room will offer these throughout the course of the year, so keep an eye out on emails and correspondence to see what offers are available to you.
Is It Just the Case of Finding the Highest Bonus?
No. Whilst it may seem that you want to get the bonus with most cash, it should be the wagering requirements that dictate which bonus is going to be best for YOU!
For example, if you play about £30 of bingo games per week, there’s no point in getting a bonus for £100 that requires you to play £1,000 worth of games within 30 days. You aren’t going to get near it. You’d be better claiming a bonus for £20 that requires you to play £100 in 30 days. The amount is less, but you’ve a chance of clearing and getting something, rather than nothing.
Do Bonuses Come With Time Limits to Clear?
Yes, all bonuses will have a timeframe that you need to clear by. This can be as short as 7 days or as long as 90 days. Obviously, the longer the clearing timeframe, the more time you have to clear it.
Bingo Games
The explosion of online bingo has meant that there are now many different variations of the original game. These game types generally come in form of the number of balls that are included in that game and as a result, can vary in the prizes that are on offer. Here’s a list of games that you can expect and how they work.
90 ball
The 90-ball game is the most common for online bingo and this is basically the “bread and butter” of the bingo industry. Pretty much all bingo halls will offer this and it’s actually the game most play in brick and mortar bingo halls as well.
As the name suggest, the game comes with 90 balls in total. The cards are made up of three horizontal rows and 9 columns, with each column having a number ranging from 1 to 90. The numbers are arranged randomly on the card.
In terms of prizes, there are going to be three chances that you get. The first is by filling a full line, the second is two line and then the final is of course, a full house. The size of the prize will increase with each combination.
80 ball
The 80-ball game is actually one of the latest additions to the online bingo family. We say online, because it’s one of few that has been created for online and is only played online. But even though it’s only been around for a short period of time, the game is proving to be massively popular.
It’s quite different from a “regular” game in that, obviously you get 80 balls to start, but the cards are laid out in grids of 4×4 numbers. Within each grid is one number per square and with it you get 16 numbers in total.
Whilst you do get 4×4 grids, they are actually in some order. You see, each column will contain a range of numbers that run vertically. So, column 1 includes numbers from 1-20, column 2 has numbers from 21-40 and so on. Winning lines can be paid horizontally, diagonally and vertically, and include wins on a single line, any line house, any line column and full house.
75 ball
The 75-ball variant is one that is most popular within the United States. In fact, they play this game more than the 90-ball variant, so you’re going to find this to be a really popular online game as a result.
This game is actually where the 80-ball game was derived from, but with a few subtle differences. The first is that even though both games are in a grid format, this one includes a 5×5 grid with a total of 25 squares within each column. But the centre square is black, so you’ve actually only got 24 numbers in play at any one time per square.
The columns run vertically as they do in the 80-ball game. So, column 1 will include numbers 1-20, column 2 will have 21-40 and so on. Winning lines are made up by completing either full boxes or winning lines that run both vertically and horizontally.
50 ball
Virtue Fusion were the brain child behind the 50-ball bingo game funnily enough and is proved to be a big hit within the online bingo halls as a result. The game, of course, includes just 50 balls, which means that they play out much faster than some of the bigger 90/80 ball games.
The card is going to contain just 10 numbers in total. These can range from 1 to 50 and are spaced out over 2 lines, with 5 stacked on top of 5. The game is super simple in that winning lines will run horizontally, so you only need 5 numbers in a row and then full house is the one to fill the full card.
These games often include jackpots with it as well, which are usually around £1,000 that are paid out for a full house in 19 balls or less.
40 ball
40 ball bingo is another game that comes straight from Virtue Fusion and, like 50 ball, has a really strong online following. The game is often linked to the ever-popular Rainbow Riches game and with it includes a couple of four-leaf clovers to allow you to maximise your winnings.
The layout for the game is similar that of 50-ball games, but instead of having 10 numbers, you only have 8 numbers. These numbers are listed horizontally and with it you simply mark of the number as they are called.
As stated, the game has strong ties to that of Rainbow Riches, which substitutes symbols within the game, but it’s not exclusive to this game, so non-themed 40-ball games are on offer as well.
Virtue Fusion Exclusive Games
The boom of online bingo has meant that the traditional style of bingo is no longer the only form you can get. As we’ve mentioned above, the games come in all different shapes and sizes these days, but one of the latest inceptions is that of branded games.
Each game follows the same game principles as you’d come to expect from online bingo games, but each with their own twist. Here is a list of some of the bigger games that are hosted by Virtue Fusion.
Rainbow Riches
Rainbow Riches found its initial success in the online slots sector, but this has now been carried across to that of online bingo. The game itself comes with the 40-ball game attached, which is one of the fastest paced bingo games that you can get.
The format of the game differs from the original in that you have two 4-leaf clovers that may or may not appear during your game. The game includes two feature rounds. The first is the Rainbow Riches room where the game then reverts to a wishing well. This is a section that rewards longevity in play, so for every 5 tickets that you buy, the wishing well will be activated. The game then fires out gold coins throughout the game and once you collect 40 in total, you will get a prize.
The second feature in the game is that of the 1toGo feature. Basically with this feature, if you’ve got just one number left and someone else finished the game before you, you will get a share of the pot of money that has been running throughout that game. The amount you win depends on how many other players are in with a share of the money.
Deal or No Deal
The Deal or No Deal brand is now huge with online gaming. It’s down to the success of the TV show hosted by Noel Edmunds, but the slot game is easily one of the biggest in the industry, so the switch to bingo was an obvious expansion.
The game can come in two variants; 90 ball and 75 ball. As a basic guide to the games, they both work just as 90 ball and 75 ball game would, the defences come in the form of the bonus rounds on offer.
Each game come with the now synonymous red boxes and it’s these boxes that represent the numbers that you would choose for a normal bingo game. The game works in a similar manner to the TV show in that as balls are called, boxes are opened and then cash rewards are revealed. It’s worth noting that there are more balls than boxes, so not every number will open a box.
As the game winds down, the player who has achieved a full house first will then get a bonus amount offered to them from the Banker. You then have two options here; to either accept the offer or risk it all for the mystery box.
The Chase
Another famous TV show to make its way across to the realms of online bingo. The game includes a lot of the sights and sounds of the show, although for reason the host, Bradley Walsh, doesn’t appear on the game.
The game is a pretty simple format in that it follows the 90-ball style of game and with it offers a good look at how far traditional online bingo games have come. The game really starts to open up when you get a house and this is when you get taken into the feature games.
As you would expect, the game is very similar to that of the Chase in that you go head to head with one of the now famous, Chasers. The game provides a series of offers and if you accept then you win, but you can decline, which brings the chaser closer to you and it gives you the chance of winning more lucrative prizes. If the Chaser catches you then you get the low prize, but if you manage to evade them, you get the higher prize.
Big Banker
The Big Banker game is another that has been made by bingo giants, virtue Fusion. The game isn’t one of their branded titles, however it does work in a very similar way to that of the Deal or No Deal games that they offer.
To start with, the game is part of the traditional 90-ball offerings that you find. You get prizes for two lines and then you need to fill your ticket for a house, which is where the feature rounds are first triggered.
In the feature round you will 22 golden safes and behind each safe is a sum of money. The safes will be removed one by one, depending on which balls have been called and then you will be offered a sum of money. As the game draws to a close you can see the number of safes on offer and the sums of money remaining. You can either take the deal or carry on to go for the higher prizes.
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is one of the nations favourite TV soaps and is also now one the nations favourite bingo games. The game includes a huge number of characters and even clicks from the show and is one of Virtue Fusions biggest jackpot games, with over £10,000 paid out every day.
Th game comes with a 90-ball format and each game is named after one of the famous locations within the show. The feature round is that of big extra cash or big progressive and to get in either of these you need to trigger a house.
The game is one of the most intersective on the VF books and with it is one of the most popular. Whether you’re a fan of the show or just love online bingo, this game is one that really does have it all.
Emmerdale
The Emmerdale bingo game is another that is just great fun. It’s all based around the TV show and even includes calls that are linked to the show, such as “Tom Kings up in heaven, 67”. Obviously if you’ve never watched the show before this will be pretty meaningless, but we can guarantee that you will still enjoy the game.
another pretty standard layout in that it’s a 90-ball game, paying both line and a house. You will need the house to trigger the feature round, which is where the game gets really lucrative.
There are two feature games in Emmerdale, the trail and the country miles. Each has their own little quirks, such as the Land rover moving across your screen, but both are just as lucrative as the other. All in all, a great online bingo game, especially for fans of the TV show.
High Street Bingo Halls on the Virtue Fusion Network
Bingo started to filter through to mainland Europe as far back as the 18th century. The game has remained largely unchanged in that time and even though there are now multiple variants, the basis of how to play bingo is as simple as ever.
Bingo in the UK was once a huge industry, even before online. It was seen as a popular pastime for many and even though it was widely played by women, there was a good percentage of men who frequented the many bingo halls that were around in the 60’s and 70s’.
The reason for the increase in popularity of the game is that it was a simple a relatively cheap to play. As you can see even with online games today, you can play games for just a couple of pence and even in the early days of the bingo hall, this was very much the case.
But, the number of halls has now reduced dramatically and even though there are still plenty about if you look hard enough, they aren’t in every town and city, like they used to be. One of the biggest factors to the demise of brick and mortar bingo halls was down to factors such as the smoking ban.
Whilst it has to be agreed that the smoking ban is a good thing overall, for places like bingo halls and pubs, it’s been hugely negative. The fact that people aren’t able to smoke whilst playing in halls that were famed for their smoky atmosphere has put people off going altogether.
Many of the independent halls that were run by local businesspeople are now gone and if they haven’t been sold off for hosing, have been taken over by corporate giants such as Gala and Mecca Bingo, two companies that are on the Virtue Fusion network.
The reason companies like these have been able to flourish still is down to the fact they need to produce much smaller profit margins per plot as say an independent person owning just a single plot.
Gala Bingo
Gala Bingo has been about since 1991, so they were one of the pioneers of the online platform. They originally operated under the name of Bass plc and then became the Gala Coral Group after buying out betting giants Coral Eurobet in 2015.
Gala had peaked at around 174 clubs in 2007, but the smoking ban reduced this number to 140. The group are now owned by Ladbrokes and the 130 bingo clubs that they had left were then sold off separately to Caledonia Investments for a cool £241million in November 2016.
Mecca Bingo
Mecca Bingo is one of the oldest bingo companies in the UK and their doors have been open since 1961. The brand is now owned by The Rank Group and still have 86 bingo clubs across the UK.
The company have over 11,000 employees working for them and are a part of as the same group as Grosvenor Casino. Mecca bingo is still the largest National Bingo Game operator in the UK with a revenue of £221.5milion in 2016.
The History of Virtue Fusion
Virtue Fusion were originally set up in 1999 and set out to become one of the best game developers’ in the industry. They actually hadn’t initially targeted to work within online bingo especially, with casino games being their preference. But they quickly realised that there was a huge gap in the market to take bingo games to the next level.
The company worked tirelessly to try and integrate themselves within the bingo industry. They were able to come up with different game types, such as the 40 and 50 ball offerings we’ve spoken about on this page.
Over the next decade or the so, the company continued to impress and were able to sign deals with the likes of William Hill, Mecca, Ladbrokes and Virgin to host their games on their bingo sites. Obviously as games start to get more exposure, this brings in the competition to see what’s going on.
In 2010 the work they were carrying out caught the eye of PlayTech. These guys were already an established developer in the online casino sector and were looking to branch out into online bingo.
A deal went through worth a reportedly £29million. The deal was put in place for PlayTech to acquire Virtue Fusion, but they were keen to assist the work they were doing, rather than overhaul it. The brand name remained, and the team was largely untouched before eventually expanding to keep up with demand.
Whilst Virtue Fusion were always nailed on for success, even from an early stage, there is no doubt the link with PlayTech has been able to take them to the next level. The games that they provide and the quality that are on offer are almost unrivalled and they’ve been able to see off a host of competitors over the last decade or so as well, which often speaks volumes.